Yesterday, Mr. Darkness and I had a lovely walk over to Mt. Rainier and Brentwood, to the open art studios at Otis Street Arts Project and Art by the Tracks, the Washington Glass School, Portico, and the Brentwood Arts Exchange.
We had some terrific conversations and gave out several stickers with this blog address. So now seemed like a good time for a little reintroduction.
A few weeks ago I visited DCAC and saw that one of my pieces, "Fear Eater," had a happy red dot on the wall -- sold! One of my friends expressed an interest in another piece, but we were told that it, too, had been sold -- as had a third! (despite their lack of happy red-dot stickers)
Alas! Confusion! When I returned to the gallery this Friday, the previously unstickered sculptures were unstickered once more. A different staffer told me that some mysterious glitch in the "Square" interface had led to a number of false positives around the exhibit. Only "Fear Eater" had actually been sold; the others had been suspended in a liminal state of nontransaction.
I still cannot guarantee that the hypothetical illusory buyers are not, indeed, real -- was it the sale or the unsale that was the glitch? Perhaps at tonight's Wallmountables closing party (6-7 p.m.), someone will reveal themselves as the secret, elusive, patron(s) of my art. But if not, you can still buy the things!
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| Unseen Toolkit: Night (not one of the pieces that attempted to become unavailable) |
Further details of my 2023 Wallmountables (currently on view at DCAC)
Everything but the glue and paint has been salvaged, picked up off the ground, rescued or recycled in some way. A broken and melted glass jar dug up from the bank of the Shenandoah River. Scraps of rabbit fur found in a friend's childhood basement, from a decades-ago abandoned craft project. Copper wire unraveled from the transformers of broken gadgets.
WallMountables 2023 opens this Friday...
"DC’s largest open community exhibition" (at least while Artomatic languishes in its interminable liminal state) will run from July 7th to August 6th. Friend of the Collective Joan Arkham has already installed new work, and my own installation is scheduled for this Thursday afternoon (i.e. the last possible date). Come and see! And buy art. WallMountables is a fundraiser for the DC Arts Center, so you can support the gallery while you acquire new art.
Opening Celebration: Friday, July 7th -- 7 p.m.
Closing Reception: Sunday, August 6th -- 6 p.m.
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| work in progress for WallMountables 2023 -- DJH |
The Blithe Stinglider is seldom found in the Tamaqua area. They are almost never harmful to large mammals such as humans! (Only three decapitations have been recorded in this area in several decades.)
Due to their larval/nymphal diet of anthracitic
gravel and coal detritis, both Blithe and Vapid Stingliders
excrete petroleum-laced, plasticine substances. Stinglider fewmets resemble
small flared, hollow cylinders with one fringed end.
These cryptids have also been observed to create
cocoons or chrysalids out of plasticky secretions, which is extremely
unlikely to happen here.
Information from the EFAC Field Guide to Tamaquan
Cryptozoology, 3rd Edition, 5/2023.
Are you CONCERNED
about Blithe (or Flitting) Stinglider attacks?
Get the FACTS –
with EFAC!
Burrowing Stinglider larvae can remain dormant
in the anthracitic rubble layer for YEARS, provided that no THIN METAL RODS are
prodded into the terrain. Only if thusly disturbed will the
nymphs begin to emerge from their subtamaquan burrows and climb to the top of a
nearby tall tree, lamppost, or weathervane to spin an ominous plasticine cocoon.
Avoid invasive pokings! -- Stay safe,
stay unsecured.
Information from the EFAC Field Guide to Tamaquan
Cryptozoology, 3rd Edition, 5/2023.
On Sunday 5/28/23 at Playa del Fuego, Her Man Melville will be hosting a Drag Story Hour featuring (some of) the queerest scenes from Moby-Dick. Bring your own banned books, queer reads, drag tips and finery!
Resource List (to be added to, as we get more links):
We Must 'Show Up In Force' Against Anti-Trans Legislation
AP News: Book ban attempts hit record high in 2022
https://marshap.org/resources-organization/ -- The Marsha P. Johnson Institute (MPJI) protects and defends the human rights of BLACK transgender people.
Free Speech Coalition https://www.freespeechcoalition.com/ -- the non-partisan nonprofit trade association for the adult industry
The Restrict Act Bill S. 686 --- https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686/text
ResistBot --- https://resist.bot/petitions
Find & Contact your Legislators --- https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/s686/comment
The Whither Vane is temporarily out of order. We apologize for the bewilderment. Cardinal directions are (mostly) accurate, but something has begun nesting in the mechanism... You can still use our signpost to find the Temple, First Aid, etc., and create your own signs to point out your camp, your art, your favorite bit of trash fence. Just...watch out overhead.
Cardinal Directions?
SURVIVAL IS INSUFFICIENT.
(Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven)
Yes, EFAC* will be on site at the Spring 2023 Playa del Fuego (tickets will be on sale for a very brief window on Sunday, April 2nd at 12 noon).
We will be installing the WhitherVane, a delightful whimsy that should spin merrily in the breeze if no Tamaquanian cryptids have intefered with the mechanism.
As with last year's SignPostA (pictured below), we will utilize the WhitherVane's pole and its many Attachment Points to provide helpful directions to various major features of the Burn.
Bring your own signage or make a placard on-site to affix below the whirligig. Let everyone know the whereabouts of your theme camp, art, event, or favorite vantage point to witness the trumpet-like song of the burrowing nymphs!
* Exotic-Feral Animal Containment
